Given the good forecast I decided to do the 120 miles of the Jersey shore in one shot. This meant hauling up the anchor yesterday morning at 0630 and leaving Atlantic Highlands where I had spent the night. This stretch of coast can be arduous and I did not want to get stuck for days in some unappealing backwater like Atlantic City waiting for weather to improve. The wind was quite light so after clearing the turbulent and busy Sandy Hook channel, I kept the motor running so as to maintain a speed of 6 knots. There was quite a parade of boats heading out after days of bad weather and I bet I was passed by a good $200 million in yachts. It was a beautiful day but I kept the engine running until 8 PM, when a really nice land breeze kicked in. The silence was nice. At 10 I made a routine look over my shoulder and was startled to see a large reddish light directly a stern, and was chagrined to find out it was nothing more than the moon. With that addition the night sailing was delightful. The aforementioned Atlantic City was the only annoyance, a temple to greed, waste, and avarice, using untold amounts of kilowatt hours to light up the night sky for miles. Reaching Cape May at at about 2 AM, I jogged back and forth in a type of heaving too until daybreak, when good light and a flood tide made entrance east. A couple of hours of rest and time to get ready for Delaware Bay, tomorrow.
A tired Charlie
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